There is an unquantifiable pleasure in growing your own fruit, vegetables and herbs. I won't over romanticise - at times, it's tempered with bitter frustration and defeat.
If you've ever dealt with irrigation systems, you'll also develop reluctant knowledge and become a mental store of imperial, metric and plumbing components. That particular tack has led me down the path of 3D printing components but that's a story for another day. You also would never have considered that the act of growing your own would feature revenge plots for slugs in the aftermath of their clandestine overnight raids.
But being afforded the opportunity to walk into the garden on a warm evening as the sun is dipping behind the trees and with little effort, pull together a salad is something that I've come to look forward to in summer.
In some way it all feels like a victory lap having thwarted the attentions of the local wildlife who we constantly encourage and now unwittingly find ourselves in direct competition with. But we recognise that we are not the apex predator in our garden. That title belongs to the Blackbirds whose wile and designs on our Cherry Tree mean that I am thwarted in tasting a Cherry for another year.
Fortunately, Blackbirds don't ransack Apple crops in the same way so I'm waiting for the content of our orchard to ripen so I can create Tarte Tatin and Apfelkuchen. It pairs brilliantly with Manzana Green Apple Liqueur from Grand Rubren - a craft distillery in Barcelonnette in the southern French Alps.
Ten years ago, we planted a reclaimed paddock in deepest mid winter and I can still feel the biting wind when I think about it. We chose a range of Welsh dwarf stock varietals that fruit across summer to avoid an unmanageable glut. The variety of texture and tastes serve different purposes too. We also decided on this approach as there are a number of farm shops locally where more common varieties like Granny Smith and Braeburn are readily available. If you're interested, Ian Sturrock & Sons are our supplier and are the largest fruit tree horticulturist in Wales.
All of this makes me think of the 'Growing a Garden' risograph poster I bought from Black Lodge Press last year. Growing a garden is a beautiful and radical act. Even if that radicalism does manifest itself in ways to protect your beleaguered plants.
